The Lightning Storm
by FeathersMcStrange
Summary: The angel of storms was his best friend, once upon a long time ago. He was happy, and bright, and no darkness could touch him. Until one day it did. The story behind why Balthazar lost faith in Heaven.


**This story is off the lyrics of Snow Patrol's 'The Lightning Storm'.**

**The character of Jiah actually belongs to the amazing PunkVampy, my very own crazy twin across the pond. I hope you don't mind that I sort of did the end different than you did. This one's for you, Alice!**

**It's an idea on why exactly Balthazar seems so unwilling to follow the rules, and why he lost faith in Heaven. I don't know...**

**Review?**

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_What if the storm ends_

_And I don't see you_

_As you are now_

_Ever again_

Balthazar and Jiah were perched on the edge of a cloud, looking down at craggy cliffs, and a deep green river flowing at the bottom of a gorge. This planet had no name, nor any inhabitants, but it was the site of the coming skirmish with the rogue angels rampaging their way through all of God's creation. The two of them looked to be about fifteen years old, and had been best friends since they were around two.

"You scared?" asked Balthazar, looking over at his friend. Jiah smiled at him, and there was a rumble of thunder in the background. The angel of storms leaned back on his palms, taking a deep breath of air.

"Nah, why would I be?" he replied, closing his bright green eyes, so like the angel who had raised him. Balthial, angel of forgiveness, was somewhere else, preparing for the coming battle. The two of them actually weren't supposed to have been involved, they were too young, but a general had mistaken them for being older than they were, and they had been drafted in anyway.

"Because this is our first battle, J. _I'm _scared. What if something happens to Gabriel? Or what if Cas wanders into it?" Balthazar bowed his head, and when he spoke his voice was quieter. "What if the battle ends, and I can't find you? What if something bad happens, and I don't see you ever again?"

Jiah chuckled, watching a butterfly float lazily by.

"Balthazar, for such a happy guy you worry altogether too much. Gabriel is an archangel. He'll be fine. Cas is safe, nowhere even near where the stupid thing's going down. And me? Please, Balth, I'll be fine. I'm indestructible, remember?" Jiah laughed again, as the two of them remembered the past. Jiah had fallen off things, been thrown off things, run over by things, and just about everything else you could think of. And yet, he shook it off and continued on, as optimistic and smiley as ever.

"I know, but still... Things might not ever be the same."

_The perfect halo_

_Of gold hair and lightning_

_Sets you off against_

_The planet's last dance_

Jiah's blonde hair crackled with electricity as he shook his head, lightning striking down behind them, followed by a peal of thunder.

"It'll all be okay, Balth, you and me will get out of this, so will Gabriel and Balthial. Soon enough the rebels will be defeated, and we won't have to worry about them any more. Life will go back to normal, and you and me can get on with pranking the higher ups like there's no tomorrow. Right? We're Balthazar and Jiah, and we're never gonna die."

Balthazar shot him a dubious look, and Jiah grinned back.

"It's this planet's last dance, let's make it worth something, shall we?" The british angel shook his head in disbelief. Trust Jiah to turn the thing into a joke. Their first battle, and Balthazar's corn blonde brother was sitting on a cloud, smiling like the fruit loop he was, and making a thunderstorm on a sunny day.

And, like always, it was welcome distraction from how scary the world had become. Balthazar found himself wondering what he would do if Jiah wasn't there anymore, to chase after pretty nymphs and sprites, play pranks, and waste away the days with him. But Balthazar stopped himself before that thought could expand itself.

He didn't want to think about what heaven would be like without the angel of storms.

_Just for a minute_

_The silver forked sky_

_Lit you up like a star_

_That I will follow_

Jiah stood, the lightning flashing across the silver sky and lighting up his silhouette and making his golden hair glow. He looked down to Balthazar and extended a hand, helping him up.

"C'mon Balth. We need to get ready now. What do you say we raise a little trouble for those rioters, yeah? Don't worry about it, alright, we'll all be okay. I promise."

And as Jiah took wing and soared up high, the sky and forks of electricity lightning him up like a star, Balthazar thought about his friend. Like the North Star that guided the three wisemen to Jesus' birth, Jiah was a guiding light in a dark world. A light that had shown Balthazar out of a dark hole he was put in by the fights more than once. That was a light that should never be put out, a light that everyone needed right now.

_Now it's found us_

_Like I have found you_

_I don't want to run_

_Just overwhelm me_

Balthazar stood as still as he could while Gabriel helped him with his lightweight but incredibly strong armor. In the hubbub of angels preparing for battle he had lost sight of Jiah. Every now and then he would shoot a glance around, looking for his friend. Right as they were about to leave, the rebels having discovered their camp and started burning, Balthazar spotted him, standing on his own at the edge of the group, electricity sparking in his blonde spikes.

Walking over, their eyes meeting, Jiah shot him one of his trademark smiles.

"We're done running, B."

"That we are, J."

_What if the storm ends_

_And leaves us nothing_

_Except a memory_

_A distant echo_

The fight was frightening, sickening and horrifying. Balthazar had killed one of the renegades, sustained a few Grace leaking injuries himself, and was currently locked in combat with a female angel with black hair and blue eyes. Looking around once she had been dealt with (Gabriel had his back, apparently, even in a war) Balthazar spotted something that made him freeze where he stood, the fight continuing around him.

Jiah was lying on the ground, one of the renegades' swords piercing his right wing, pinning him to the ground like a butterfly. Gone was the smile of earlier, and in it's place was a look of intense agony.

Balthazar had been right. This was was going to end, and they would be left with nothing but the memory of what once had been.

The distant echo of a bright peal of laughter, a smile gone off a once upon a time happy face, a memory of a boy who flashed him a cheeky grin and promised that everything would be okay.

_I was pinned down_

_I was unsettled_

_Rattle cage after cage_

_Until my blood boils_

A cry escaped the angel as he ran towards where his friend lay, delicate wings splayed out and spattered with blood. Bright Grace shone from the stab wounds, and Jiah was fading fast. He looked up, green eyes met blue, and then he did something that Balthazar would never forget.

Jiah strained, and struggled, and gave him one last bright smile. In the background lightning flashed and thunder cracked, the sky silver once more. Rain pelted down all of a sudden, marking the moment of the storm angel's passing. His body lay on the ground, growing damp with the rain, a smile still on his face. Well, Jiah had been right about one thing. Balthazar thought back to something he had said, when they were about eight, and they first heard of an angel dying.

_"If I ever die, B, I'm going to die smiling. Just so that you guys can remember me, and be happy. If I die you gotta be happy, okay?"_

Blood boiling, Balthazar made quick work of the rebel who had killed his best friend, bending down and begging Jiah to wake up and stop pretending.

Sightless green eyes did not blink, and the smile on his still face did not move.

_I want to see you as you are now_

_Every single day that I am living_

_Painted in flames all pealing thunder_

_Be the lightning in me that strikes relentless_

Balthazar promised himself that he would be happy. He promised that he would try and smile, and laugh enough for both of them. He would play as many jokes, and have as much fun as he would have if Jiah had lived to flee heaven alongside him.

They would have been better off, he thought sometimes, if Jiah was still there to live life with him. To chase pretty girls, and play pranks, and waste the days away.

Even so, with all that wishing, Jiah was gone. And he wasn't coming back, not ever.

So, Balthazar settled for remembering him as he was. Gold, electrified hair seemingly on fire from the sunlight, lightning flashing around them and thunder pealing in the background. The force that drove him on, the memory that reminded him every day that Heaven had become corrupt, and wrong, not what it had been when he was small. It had become the kind of place where a fifteen angel-years old fledgling could die and his death would be marked as commonplace, and where a civil war could rage on uncontested. The kind of place Balthazar never wanted to see again.

So he left.

And he didn't look back.


End file.
